The Impact of CD37 Ectoenzyme Expression in Benign and Malignant Colorectal Tumors

The depth of invasion of colorectal cancer through the bowel wall provided the basis for pathological staging. The establishment of prognostic markers for CRC is important in the search for potential targets for therapeutic intervention. The cell surface nucleotidase (CD73) is an enzyme involved in tumor progression and metastasis. Its main function is to convert adenosine monophosphate (AMP) to adenosine. Preclinical studies suggest that CD73 can be targeted for cancer treatment. This study was designed to investigate the prognostic value of CD73 in malignant and benign colorectal tumors among Iraqi patients and its correlation with clinicopathological features using the immunohistochemistry (IHC) technique. In the current study, 60 cases of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues of colorectal tumors were collected from the Teaching Laboratories of Baghdad Medical City Teaching Hospital, Baghdad – Iraq & private labs in Baghdad. Of them, 52 were malignant, and 8 of benign cases. In addition, 10 cases of the non-pathological significance of colorectal tissues were used as a control group. This study's results revealed significant differences (P=0.001) in the expression of CD73 between malignant tumors and benign and non-significant pathology groups. The highest expression of CD73 was detected in 76.9% of malignant cases, while in the benign group, only 12.5% of cases showed weak positive expression for this marker. Furthermore, significant differences had been reported in CD73 expression with patients' age groups for malignant (P=0.0335), tumor side (P=0.0409), and tumor grade & stage (P=≤0.01). No significant differences had been seen between CD73 expression with tumor diameter and patients' gender.